Professor Sarah Parsons BSc, PhD

Professor of Autism and Inclusion, Director of Research

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Sarah Parsons is Professor of Autism and Inclusion within Southampton Education School at the University of Southampton.

Sarah joined the School in 2011. She has significant research experience in disability related projects and particular interests in the use of innovative technologies for children with autism, the views and experiences of disabled children and their families, evidence-based practices in autism, and research ethics relating to children and young people. Sarah is especially interested in working in collaboration with others in the context of participatory design and inclusive research. Following a PhD in developmental psychology at the University of Nottingham, Sarah has led and managed research encompassing a range of methodological and analytical approaches, using qualitative and quantitative techniques, and is skilled in the development and application of child-centred methodologies for accessing the views of children with special educational needs. Sarah is regularly invited to national and international conferences to talk about her research including invitations to Russia, Kazakhstan, Monaco, Spain, Sweden and France.

Previous research includes the COSPATIAL project funded by the European Commission (€1.65M) which explored the use of innovative technologies for supporting social skills and collaborative working for children with and without autism: http://cospatial.fbk.eu/; research on using immersive and desktop Virtual Reality for supporting social skills and understanding for children on the autism spectrum; researching the ‘voices’ of disabled children about their experiences of mainstream and specialist education in the UK; and investigating ‘good adult outcomes’ for the Autism Education Trust: http://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/outcomes. Sarah was also co-Investigator on the ‘Shape Project’ funded by the ESRC which uses digital stories to explore how teachers embed innovative technologies in their curriculum: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/education/acer/research/shape/index.aspx

Research

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Publications

Contact

Research interests

Inclusive design, development, application and evaluation of innovative technologies for children on the autism spectrum

Educational provision for disabled children and children with special educational needs

Assistive technologies for children, young people and adults

Family perspectives on educational provision and supporting children with special educational needs

Young people’s views on sensitive or difficult topics

Description and evaluation of ‘best practice’ in educational provision and assessment for children and young people on the autism spectrum

Participatory approaches to research

Ethical considerations in research especially regarding the involvement of disabled children and young people

Inclusive methods for accessing the views of children and young people with disabilities or SEN

Peer Reviewer of manuscripts for many academic journals including: Autism, British Journal of Developmental Disabilities, British Journal of Special Education, Computers & Education, Educational Research, Educational Research Review, Educational Review, Educational and School Psychology, European Journal of Special Needs Education, International Journal of Research and Method in Education, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs

Peer reviewer for proposals to the ERSC; The Big Lottery Fund; The Israel Science Foundation; The Croatian Science Foundation; Autism Speaks; the Daphne Jackson Trust; the National Institute of Social Care and Health Research (NISCHR); Spencer Foundation; Wellcome Trust; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).